Directed by Martin Campbell
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, a scene of torture, sexual content and nudity
Finally, we dig deep into 2006’s Casino Royale, the first Bond film starring Daniel Craig. In this film, Craig is a newly 007 agent who is tasked with winning a high stakes poker game in Montenegro. One of the players of the game is Le Chiffre, (played by Mads Mikkelsen) a man who funds world terrorists. If Bond loses, he would have financed world terrorism and if he wins, he would stopped these terrorist acts from occurring.
Casino Royale is not your typical Bond film as it doesn’t follow a formula previous Bond films did before. To start, the film doesn’t start off with the gun barrel sequence that is usually placed at the start of every film in this series. Instead, the film begins with a black and white cold open showing Bond achieving his 007 status. Since Bond had just gained his license to kill, he is new to this job. We can tell he is new to this by the way he acts so careless in some scenes, whether its catching a bad guy or trusting individual people. In the first act of the film, Bond is chasing a henchmen through a construction site in Madagascar. In this scene, Bond stumbles, runs through walls, and improves when he’s at a dead end. Showing this indicates that Bond is new to this and not perfect, and most of all, not the super spy we all know him to be as. Seeing Bond fall while chasing a villain makes the story more believable, as the film wanted to deviate from the silliness the previous Bond film had brought.
Also, the film changes the formula by not including Q or his gadgets. In all previous Bond films, we seen Bond receive a gadget from Q and then use it later on when he’s in danger. In the second act, Bond is kidnapped and tortured by Le Chiffre. Normally, Bond would use some type of gadget to get out there, but in this film, he doesn’t have any gadget to save himself. Instead, he’s lucky that another villain comes in to shoot Le Chiffre. Not only does Bond not have anything that would have saved himself, but the main villain is shot dead, not by Bond, in the second act. Proceeding the second act, we get a love story of Bond and Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green) romantically in love. Again, this is something we would have never seen in any previous films of the series. The final act is usually reserved for a big battle scene with henchmen dying and impressive explosions, not a couple falling in love in Venice. This is what makes Casino Royale a nice change of pace and a film that feels different from the rest of the series.
The storytelling in Casino Royale is top notch and high energy. Each act of the film is its own individual story, as the first act is action filled spy story, the second act is tells the story of a high stakes poker game, and finally the final act is a romance story. While each act is different from its the rest of the film, it never gets confusing or clunky. The action certainly drives the first act as we begin the film with a parkour chase sequence. The scene is perfectly filmed as it shows us how Bond is not great at parkour. Later in the first act, we see Bond trying to stop a terrorist act at a Miami airport. After this sequence, we learn that Bond is up against a banker who gives money to world terrorists and Bond has to stop him by winning a poker game. This plot is a change of pace as the villain is not out destroy the world in a complicated scheme. Yes, Bond films are known to have villains wanting to destroy the world and that can be fun to watch, but it can get tiring after a while. Casino Royale brings things down to reality as it doesn’t rely on a scheme that involves destroying the world. Instead it relies on a story that involves terrorism, something that was relevant in the 2000’s.
The second act mainly focuses on Bond and the poker game he is a part of. Truth be told, poker is a complicated game that I wouldn’t understand. But under Martin Campbell direction, he simplifies the complex nature of a poker game so audiences could comprehend the game. This is done with camera angles, music, and the acting of the actors in these scenes. Scenes like these could have dragged the film down, but these scenes are not slowed down. It goes relatively fast, mostly due to the intensity of the scenes. Finally, the final act is where we see Bond fall in love and be at his most vulnerable. While, we have seen Bond fall in love before and even get married. This act is the perfect opportunity to put Daniel Craig’s acting on display. He is madly in love with Vesper Lynd for a while, but once he realizes that she betrayed him, he is angry. Craig does a perfect job displaying the range of emotions in this act and in the entire film in general.
Casino Royale is a film that offers a nice change pace of direction. Its an entertaining film as it never slows down, it keeps a high energy going throughout the film. Its also engaging from the moment the film begins to the moment it ends. Casino Royale is not only one of Daniel Craig’s best film, but also one of the best Bond film the series has to offer.
4/4
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